Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

[gotbadcaps]

Hi all,

I have a dead video card with some bulging caps. I've always been interested in just how easy it would be to resurrect a piece of hardware by simply replacing the caps, so now is a good time to give it a go!

The bad caps are KZG 1500uF/6.3V. I was wondering if the following would be a suitable replacement?

https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/alumi...itors/0571969/

They are the same rating and a similar size, but I have no idea about ESR and anything else that may need to match in order to be suitable. I am new to this and still reading through the forum, but any help/direction would be appreciated!

Cheers.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

those caps are too fat. i believe the kzg caps u have are 10x12.5mm? the ones u picked are 12.5x15mm. u havent said what video card it is or shown us pictures so we wont know if the fatter caps can fit. some cap layouts on pcbs have the caps together side by side with no room in-between. if that is the case with the layout, then the fatter caps wont fit.

panasonic fs 1500uF 6.3v 10x12.5mm EEUFS0J152 would be a better fit. polymodding may also be possible but we need to see what video card it is to know if the vrm has a switching frequency high enough to handle the ultra-low esr of polymers. we also need to know if its a low-power gpu or a power hungry gpu.

[stj]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

use 10mm polymers.
there are links in one of my xbox threads.

[gotbadcaps]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

those caps are too fat. i believe the kzg caps u have are 10x12.5mm? the ones u picked are 12.5x15mm... ...panasonic fs 1500uF 6.3v 10x12.5mm EEUFS0J152 would be a better fit.

Yes, the caps I have are 10x12.5mm. I was relying too much on the image as the one I picked looked to be of similar proportions. The one you listed would be the better fit, thanks!

u havent said what video card it is or shown us pictures so we wont know if the fatter caps can fit.

Apologies, I forgot to mention I would be adding some pictures later. The card is a Asus EN8500GT (GeForce 8500GT). I know it's old and probably not worth the effort, but this is really just a practice for future reference, to see if I can get it going.

polymodding may also be possible but we need to see what video card it is to know if the vrm has a switching frequency high enough to handle the ultra-low esr of polymers. we also need to know if its a low-power gpu or a power hungry gpu.

Would it be worth it for this case on an old card? (I know you didn't have this information before your post). The power consumption is listed as "up to 75W".

Here are some pics of the card. There are 3 bulging caps of the same rating all up. There is also a single KZG 820uF that looks ok (not bulging), would it be worth grabbing a replacement/replacing this also? As I said, I know it's an old card and I don't think I will be using it for that long if I do get it back up and running.

Thanks to all for your help!

[stj]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

ALL KZG are suspect, it's a known bad series.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

ok, that card isnt worth repairing or spending expensive polymers on because its a known defective gpu series. the gf6, 7 and 8 series are known to fail easily with heat. add that its a 45w gpu with a passive cooler, the problem could instead be a dead/failed gpu rather than bad caps.

so dont spend too much money, effort or time on it if u insist on repairing it. just buy the cheapest caps available that are suitable spec-wise and size-wise.

caps can fail without bulging or showing any signs. the kzg 820uF 6.3v 8x11.5mm cap can be replaced with panasonic fr series 820-1000uF 6.3v 8x11.5mm EEUFR0J821 or EEUFR0J102.

besides video cards, these cap values are pretty common on motherboards as well, e.g. 1500uF 6.3v is used for chipset filtering and 820-1000uF 6.3v is used for general filtering, so even if the fix doesnt work u can reuse the caps on other stuff.

[gotbadcaps]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

ok, that card isnt worth repairing or spending expensive polymers on because its a known defective gpu series. the gf6, 7 and 8 series are known to fail easily with heat. add that its a 45w gpu with a passive cooler, the problem could instead be a dead/failed gpu rather than bad caps.

I see, thank you for the heads up, I was not aware of that!

so dont spend too much money, effort or time on it if u insist on repairing it. just buy the cheapest caps available that are suitable spec-wise and size-wise.

Yes, will do. As I said, this is more of a trial as I have never done this before.

caps can fail without bulging or showing any signs. the kzg 820uF 6.3v 8x11.5mm cap can be replaced with panasonic fr series 820-1000uF 6.3v 8x11.5mm EEUFR0J821 or EEUFR0J102.

Ok thanks, I will replace it also. I guess it is safe to assume that the single polymer cap on there should be ok?

besides video cards, these cap values are pretty common on motherboards as well, e.g. 1500uF 6.3v is used for chipset filtering and 820-1000uF 6.3v is used for general filtering, so even if the fix doesnt work u can reuse the caps on other stuff.

Good to know, here's hoping the GPU is still alive! I might take the heatsink off to have a look at it. Although I guess there will not always be any psychical signs that it is dead?

Thanks for your response, you have been very helpful!

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

Yes, will do. As I said, this is more of a trial as I have never done this before.

my comment was more intended to tell u to prepare for the worst that replacing the caps may not necessarily fix the video card and that it is a goner instead.

I guess it is safe to assume that the single polymer cap on there should be ok?

yes, that polymer cap is a chemicon npcap psc series. its one of the best polymer caps out there unlike their chemicon kzg and kzj series which has issues.

Although I guess there will not always be any psychical signs that it is dead?

a failed gpu wont display any physical signs because the failure is internal inside the chip. if it displays physical signs, its actually physical damage caused by mishandling or manhandling of the video card. e.g. dropping it on the floor or from a height, hammered/stepped on, tossed around like a frisbee etc.

[momaka]

Re: Suitable Replacement Caps for Video Card

Apologies, I forgot to mention I would be adding some pictures later. The card is a Asus EN8500GT (GeForce 8500GT). I know it's old and probably not worth the effort, but this is really just a practice for future reference, to see if I can get it going.

No need to apologize.

We (well some of us... OK, me, at least ) fix old video cards like that quite frequently, and I wouldn't say it's a moot point or not worth the effort. Even this old GeForce 8500 GT is actually pretty decent for online video acceleration/decoding, provided you are using it on an old computer whose built-in GPU (if there is one) is not better or does not have H.264 video acceleration.

That said, I bought the same exact video card about 5 or so years ago for super-cheap, specifically as a recap project (it had only one bad cap on the RAM - i.e. the corner of the card.)

I recapped mine and it brought it back to working order. ChaosLegionnaire does have a valid point, though - these cards are know to have a defect with the GPU chip, particularly ones that have been running or are expected to run hot (so this one for sure with its passive heatsink). Thus, if you intend to use it in a computer for any reasonable time, I suggest you attach a fan to the passive heatsink. 70-80 mm fan should do. Run it on 5-8V, depending on how much 3D load you're planning to put on the video card. I put an 80 mm on mine running at 12V, just so that it could cope with summer heat here (almost 30C / 86F in my computer room), but that tends to make the card loud. If you won't be doing any gaming or heavy 3D-loading, then a 70 mm fan at 7V shouldn't be too loud and still offer plenty of cooling. You can get 7V on a fan by attaching the positive wire to 12V rail on PSU and negative wire to 5V rail (so the difference between the 12V rail and 5V rail is 7V.) Not the best way to do it, but it surely is the simplest and works OK.